TEDDY MADISON
Teddy Madison is a queer tragicomedy that explores the complexities of identity, love, and memory through an intimate and vivid narrative. The story unfolds as Mrs. Fairfax, Teddy’s memoirist, pieces together his life using his diaries and years of correspondence. At its heart, the novel offers a utopian lens on gender, sexuality, and relationships, set against the backdrop of an era that still feels strikingly relevant today.
The story is grounded in historical detail and spans the years 1916 to 1930, with flashbacks to even earlier times. It unfolds in vibrant locations like New York, Paris, London, Baltimore, St. Albans, and Louisville. While the setting captures the glamour of the past, the narrative introduces forward-thinking social themes that feel progressive even by today’s standards.
Teddy’s world is full of humor, heartache, and poignant reflection as the characters navigate the challenges of marriage, family, and tragedy. They relive their past mistakes, find moments of joy, and face their inner turmoil. Inspired by the richness of contemporary society, Teddy Madison bridges the glitz of history with the struggles and triumphs of the human experience.
In Teddy’s own life, truths collide with denial and a world painted in shades of gray. His journey includes being a Freudian patient, having a naval husband, an ill-fated affair, an unattainable love, a precious daughter, and a network of conflicting influences. For Teddy, these are just the makings of another day in a life meant to be penned down.
Main Themes: Roaring 20s, Unrequited Love, Memoir Exposure, Relationships, Marriage, Mystical/Divine, Clairvoyant, Psychology, Mania, Depression, Memories, 1910s, Dadaism/Modern Art, Letters, Diary Entries, Dark Comedy, Tragicomedy, Dramedy, Destiny Fate, Grief/Loss/Death, Unreality, Numerology, Twins/Siblings, Sharp Dialogue, Family Drama, Sigmund Freud, Dreams, Philosophy, Nostalgia, Ballet, Ballroom Dancing
“How delightful Teddy was at dinner that night, leaving Harrison with awestruck eyes and lips panicked with pleasure, as he sat diagonally from his husband at the table. From behind the tall white candles in the silver candelabra, Teddy still managed to make the dashing captain enamored with a curious version of wonder. ”
Fun Facts
Teddy Madison began as a short story I wrote for a creative writing seminar in 2009 at Monmouth University, and it grew from there, slowly taking on a life of its own. Originally, Teddy’s husband, Harrison was called Graham. Teddy’s brother Danny was once a sister named Claire. The names and dynamics changed, but the story deepened, layer by layer.
And here’s a secret: every character whose name begins with “C” isn’t a coincidence. They’re all echoes of one another, reflections circling Teddy’s orbit, each leaving a mark on his life in ways he can’t escape—or, sometimes, even recognize.
It’s deliberate chaos, the kind of storytelling where nothing is exactly as it seems, and every detail matters.
“It’s sad to think that we’re ahead of most people. I sometimes feel we’re imitations of a time where we shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”
A New Kind of Story
Teddy Madison offers a reimagining of the past—an inclusive, liberating perspective on a world that could have been, set within a real moment in time. Imagine the Roaring 20s, steeped in jazz and glamour, but stripped of the rigid expectations of gender, sexuality, and relationships. In this world, those aspects of life are finally normal, not exceptions or scandals. Through its vivid details and sprinklings of true events and people, Teddy Madison blurs the line between history and possibility.
As the author, I invite you to ask: What if a few key decisions had been different? How might society have looked a hundred years ago - and how could it have shaped today? This is more than a period piece; it’s a mirror to the present, a call to consider the boundless possibilities of love, humanity, and progress. Love is universal, yes - but it’s also complicated, and often unkind.
The story digs deep into the human experience, exploring the blind spots we all have - what we don’t know about ourselves, and what we miss in others. The grief of losing people we love, the struggle to live with that loss, and the joy of learning to appreciate who and what we still have - these are the threads that weave through Teddy’s life. The characters wrestle with the universal conflict: doing what’s right versus chasing what they desire. They’re multifaceted, flawed, and achingly human, shaped by intimate encounters, profound experiences, and the chaotic emotions that define us all.
Teddy’s story is infused with the avant-garde. His life told through the lens of a memoir crafted by Mrs. Fairfax, becomes a tapestry of absurdities woven with serious issues. As he examines his memories, the lines between reality and imagination blur - just as they do for the readers who follow his journey. After studying at the School of Fine Arts in Paris from 1918 to 1922, Teddy brings his artistic vision back to New York, opening a salon where the conventions of the time collide with his bold, progressive ideas. Yet even in his world, rules and protocols lurk, constraining and challenging him at every turn.
The narrative is layered and deliberately complex. Teddy’s struggle to decipher what’s real versus what his mind creates mirrors the challenge readers face as they navigate his story. His memoir isn’t just a collection of memories; it’s a battleground of objectivity versus subjectivity, truth versus interpretation. And yet, this is where the magic happens - where Teddy’s unreality becomes both maddening and captivating, pulling readers deeper into his mind.
At its heart, Teddy Madison is an exploration of love, loss, and identity. It challenges the biases of the past and even the present, particularly for queer relationships and faith. As a gay Roman Catholic, I’ve poured my own struggles into this work - the tension between faith, identity, and the fight for equality. Writing this has been both a catharsis and a reminder of how far we still have to go.
So, will you read Teddy Madison and still love him? His memoir, filled with fragments of diary entries and letters, collides with the sensory world, shaping a story that’s as tender as it is unsettling. And as Teddy contends with Mrs. Fairfax, the architect of his memoir, you’ll find yourself drawn into their shared quest for truth.
Prepare to step into a world of vivid imagery, where every sense is engaged, every emotion laid bare. Through its delicate portrayal of sensitive topics, Teddy Madison offers a rich, colorful exploration of the human condition - a story of conflict, connection, and the endless possibilities of love and identity.
Further Passages
“Mystical experiences seem so much more enthralling. I’ll explain what it is to go beyond all the senses. Her little hands, her tiny nose, and lips that want to speak. I just want to pour my heart into something that makes sense. The energy is there; I just need a way to figure it out.”
“The future would cease; their future would become Teddy’s future with Harrison. William just looked at Teddy — his profile, his face under that helmet with the sun behind him, the gloves covering his dainty hands, and the same trails to ride — to forget; he’d go back and keep living.”
“Mary used to love the word affair, in relation to some grand gathering she planned or to describe some weekend in the country that went terribly wrong. She hid, frozen but listening. That’s when the gun went off.”
“His mother handed him his dance card, already filled out. How incredibly annoying. He paused as he glanced at the card and then at his mother. Surely she didn’t mean that Teddy had to dance with Harrison? But why would he do his opening waltz with a boy who was at war? And for someone he didn’t even know!”
“Tomorrow, such a throwaway word. Tomorrow, maybe they’d go dancing. Tomorrow. But they still had that day. Life, what a funny little cycle.”
“Any kind of love is the slowest form of dying, at a lifelong pace.”
“But it was different when they got older; those were just little bends of the truth. His chess pieces and dolls grew up to have their own eyes, ears, and brains.”
“They hid from each other, the truth, and the light.”
“The past was thought to be seen in the clearest of lights because he understood the most to reflect on it. That, and it was so easy to make up how he saw the past; he manifested what he wanted to see.”
“He really was a living oxymoron. But it was better to have the oxy prefix than to just be moronic; he was quite sharp but did not see himself as foolish.”
“Stop thinking, always thinking, racing, it never stops — get lost in the moment if you can, but make it stop. Everything matters, but nothing matters now. Not now.”
“Intellectuals have always been partial to GRANDIOSE ideas about themselves: Such intellectuals, bristling with neurotic aspirations and DERANGED by FANTASIES of utopia, were made possible by the very society they would destroy.”
“There in that room, nothing else mattered. The triangles of scorn, the circles of tedious alliances, and the past, all were momentarily dissolved. ”
“Harrison swallowed a gulp of nerves. “I’m sorry I’m rambling. I just thought of the letters I wrote to you before we were married. Afterward, I just assumed that you knew how I felt; how terribly wrong of me. Teddy, I, I’ll love you always, as I do now, both in this life and the next. What a blessed miracle it is that you’re my husband.””